Third Paper-Yellow Wallpaper Letter

March 22, 1950

The Censorship Comittee

National Organization for Women
P.O. Box 1848
Merrifield, VA 22116-1848

To The Censorship Committee,

I am a reader and active member of NOW (National Organization for Women). I disagree with your refusal to publish The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins-Gillman. Mitchell’s rest cure should have a negative light shed on it, women should have a choice in their medical treatment, and women should be able to make their own decisions and not just do what they are told.

Mitchell’s rest cure, which lasts from six to eight weeks, is detrimental to a person’s mental state. Being isolated from friends and family is what drove the main character crazy in The Yellow Wallpaper. The author wasn’t allowed hobbies, writing, exercise, or anything she liked to do to occupy her time. So she sat and thought about the yellow wallpaper which eventually led to her psychosis. The author wrote, “This paper looks at me as if it knew what a vicious influence it had!” (Perkins-Gillman 318). The author’s husband wanted her to just lie in bed and breathe in the yellow room. The author didn’t have anything to keep her mind occupied, so she obsessed over the wallpaper. The author wrote, “Up and down and sideways they crawl, and those absurd and blinking eyes are everywhere” (Perkins-Gillman 319). When company did arrive the author’s sister in law took care of her. The author felt like a burden and this was shown when she wrote, “I mean to be such a help to John, such a real rest and comfort, and here I am, a comparative burden already!” (Perkins-Gillman 318). John was following the rest cure when he made his wife lay down for an hour after every meal, but she wouldn’t sleep she just stared at the wallpaper. The author wrote, “And it’s like a women stooping down and creeping about behind that pattern” (Perkins-Gillman 321). The rest cure obviously has negative effects on a person’s health, so sheading negative light on it is important. I hope the committee reconsiders publishing this story. Furthermore, women should have a choice in their medical treatment.

If publishing this story inspires young women to have a choice in their medical treatment, than it should be published. Women should not blindly, without choice or input, adhere to any medical treatment forced on them. The author wrote, “Personally, I disagree with their ideas. Personally, I believe that congenial work, with excitement and change, would do me good” (Perkins-Gillman 316). No one bothered to listen to what she had to say. Whenever the author would get the nerve to tell her husband how she felt, he would dismiss it. The author wrote “… so I told him that I really was not gaining here, and that I wish he would take me away” (Perkins-Gillman 322). John’s reply when she told him the treatment was not making her better was that he dismissed her. John didn’t believe she should not have any input into her recovery. Readers should be exposed to the idea that a women should have input into her treatment, so this story should be published. Also, women should be able to make their own decisions and not just do what they are told.

Women should be able to make decisions for themselves. Women should do what they want to do, and not only what their husbands want. Women should be able to pursue interests outside of the home. The author wasn’t even allowed to sleep in the bedroom she wanted to sleep in. The author explained, “I don’t like our room one bit. I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! But John would not hear of it” (Perkins-Gillman 316). Instead of making decisions for herself and having hobbies outside of the house, she was left to stare at the wallpaper. The author turned what should have been her outside interest towards the wallpaper and life became more exciting for her because she had something to look forward to. She wrote, “Life is very much more exciting now than it used to be. You see I have something more to expect, to look forward to, to watch” (Perkins-Gillman 324). I hope this committee reconsiders the decision to publish this story because women need become aware of the choices they are entitled to.

Sincerely,

Vincent Danetti